1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for preparing steel rolling stock prior to hot rolling, comprising the steps of preheating the rolling stock, descaling the preheated rolling stock, heating the descaled rolling stock, and finally hot rolling the rolling stock itself.
The invention further relates to an apparatus for preparing steel rolling stock prior to hot rolling, comprising a first furnace for preheating the rolling stock, a descaling device for descaling the preheated rolling stock, a second furnace for heating the descaled rolling stock, and finally a rolling mill for hot rolling the heated rolling stock itself.
2. Prior Art
A combined casting/rolling plant for producing silicon steel is known from WO 2008/000396 A1, wherein the rolling stock is heated in a roller hearth furnace, subsequently descaled, heated in an induction furnace to a temperature greater than the rolling temperature, subsequently descaled a second time, and finally hot-rolled.
What is disadvantageous about this method for preparing the rolling stock is that the roller hearth furnace is poor at adapting to rapidly changing operating conditions, e.g. to the casting speeds at startup and shutdown time of the plant, that the rolling stock must be descaled twice, and that the descaled rolling stock must be heated in the induction furnace to a temperature significantly higher, typically up to 100° C. higher, than the rolling temperature before it can be hot-rolled. The method is therefore complicated and labor-intensive, and above all inefficient in energy terms; moreover, the plant is also complex and extensive in its overall installation length.